Ignition Theatre Presents: GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES

Event Description

RED DEER – Ignition Theatre is proud to present Pulitzer prize finalist Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries– celebrating the ten year anniversary of the provocative and controversial love story that has taken the theatre world by storm since its premiere in 2009. Performances begin January 17th and run through January 26th at the Red Deer Memorial Centre, Nickel Studio (Third Floor). Curtain is 7:30PM nightly. Tickets are $20.00 / $25.00 (Friday and Saturday Performances) and available online at www.ignitontheatre.ca and at the box office 30 minutes prior to curtain. Gruesome Playground Injuries is presented with a discretionary warning for coarse language, graphic imagery, sexuality and mature themes that may trigger those suffering from mental illness.
Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the psychological calamities that keep drawing them together.
“Gruesome…marks Ignition’s return to the provocative and edgy brand of theatre from which our reputation in the community was first formed. The “edgy” moniker too often suggests to the audience that the play they are about to see is either gratuitous or offensive and as such they’d prefer to wait for a more accessible production to come along. I want to assure our audience that the same values, respect and careful artistic consideration that goes into productions like The Year of Magical Thinking or The Glass Menagerie or Tuesdays with Morrie are the same values applied to the productions that carry those seemingly terrifying discretionary warnings. Gruesome…is an incredibly beautiful and complex examination of mental illness; an examination of pain, both physical and psychological, and our need to inflict pain upon others and ourselves as a means of survival. It’s a love story that desperately struggles to navigate and accept what love truly means. It’s a play full of questions, catharsis, and believe it or not, a deeply dark sense of humour.” – Matt Grue, Director, Gruesome Playground Injuries